Iva Jovic plays with a coolness that will serve her well in the future. She also has the groundstrokes to back up her growing confidence. But she isn't quite ready to challenge Jessica Pegula at Wimbledon 2026. Not yet.
The lesson that Jovic could take away from what happened in her fourth-round match against the older American is never to give in at any point. Pegula is a jack of all trades, but a master of none. All of her physical tennis weapons are good, but none are elite. That doesn't matter.
What has made Pegula a success is her mental approach. One doesn't normally sweep her off the court. She grinds out matches when she needs to, is able to outthink many of her opponents, and stays in matches when she seemingly is overwhelmed. She could have given up early against Jovic, but she never would have.
Jessica Pegula reaches the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2026 by defeating Iva Jovic
While Jovic was taking the first set 6-4, Pegula was making far too many errors, beating herself as much as her opponent was. This was definitely not the normal way Pegula goes about her business, but one had to wonder if she could course correct before the match was done.
The answer was that she could, even after committing 16 unforced errors in the opening set, to just five winners. She could have lost the first set much worse, but she was able to fight off four of the six break points she faced.
Jovic helped her at times, though. Whether she was nervous or just playing under her normal form, the 18-year-old Jovic had five winners, too, but also 12 unforced errors. Both players would need to raise their level to take firm control of the match.
Jovic dipped, though. She struggled to land her first serve in set two (doing so just 54 percent of the time, and winning only 47 percent of those points). Pegula still struggled with her own issues, but she was too much for Jovic in earning the 6-3 set victory.
Ahead of the match, too much was made of the age difference between the two players. Jessica Pegula is 32 years old, 14 years her opponent's senior, but both are relatively young when tennis is not involved, and both move around the court well. Still, Pegula's high-end experience was appearing to pay off, while Jovic didn't know what she didn't know.
At the beginning of the third set, Iva Jovic kept getting herself into trouble with unforced errors, and Pegula took advantage, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. The older American got another break of serve at 4-1, and had the match on her racket. She would hold with relative ease to take the final set 6-1.
Jessica Pegula will next face the winner of the Coco Gauff and Belinda Bencic match in the quarterfinals. Her quarterfinal appearance matches Pegula's best showing ever at Wimbledon.
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